The Mandorla is an ancient symbol of two circles coming together, overlapping
one another to form an almond shape in the middle. Mandorla is the Italian word for almond.
The Mandorla is also known as the
"Vesica Piscis" (see the Jensen references below), symbolizing the interactions and interdependence of
opposing worlds and forces. Although the symbol
has its origins before the Christian era, the early Christians used the
symbol as a method to describe the coming together of heaven and earth, between the
divine and human.

The circles symbolise interacting but complementary opposites. The space within the overlap is the place
in which we are called to
"remain", the "liminal space"
Richard Rohr speaks of.. This is the place where you arrive after you leave one
room and have not yet entered another. In this place, you are living on the
threshold and this requires
faith. All transformation takes place in liminal space.

If we deny one of the opposites (eg. our shadow, death,
..), the circles may only touch; they do not intersect. In this situation, we are
polarised, out of balance. Perhaps too when we become wholly integrated, the
overlap is total and there appears to be only one circle (for awhile
anyway).

The Mandorla, known in both East and West, expresses
the standpoint of the mystic.
It symbolises for us the tensions of life, the tension of complementary opposites:

Tension of the Opposites

Heaven <--------> Earth

Natural <--------> Supernatural

Divine <--------> Human

Life <--------> Death

The Inner world <--------> the Outer
world

Esotericism <--------> Exotericism

Apophatic spirituality <--------> Katophatic
spirituality

The Self <--------> the Shadow

The rational "calculative" mind <-------->
the contemplative mind

The Mandorla depicts the union of apparent opposites, the same union of
which the mystics speak. Our ego-consciousness divides reality into subject and
object, whereas out true self experiences unity and harmony; Thomas Merton
speaks frequently about this (eg. in his book The New Man). In the Mandorla
both of these aspects coincide.

Nicholas of Cusa speaks of the coincidence of contradictories or
coincidentia oppositorum:

The coincidence of opposites is a certain kind of unity perceived as
coincidence, a unity of contrarieties overcoming opposition by convergence
without destroying or merely blending the constituent elements. Although in
once sense not obliterated, in another the constituent elements shed their
multiple, differentiated status. Examples would include the coincidence of
rest and motion, past and future, diversity and identity, inequality and
equality, and divisibility and simplicity.

... coincidence does not really describe God. Rather it sets forth the way
God works, the order of things in relation to God and to each other, and the
manner by which humans may approach and abide in God. God is beyond the realm
of contradictories. God ... preceded opposites, is undifferentiated, not
other, incomparable, and without opposite, precedes distinctions, opposition,
contrariety, and contradiction.

"I have found the place where one can find Thee undisguised. It is
surrounded by the coincidence of opposites. This is the wall of Paradise in
which Thou dwellest. Its gate is guarded by the highest spirit of
reason. Unless one overcomes it, the entrance will not open. On the other
side of the wall of the coincidence of opposites one can see Thee, on this
side never." (Jager, p.77)

The early Christians would make themselves known to one another by scraping
into walls two lines indicating a stylized fish (the Icthus). One would scratch a small circle in the wall, and another would come
by and make another circle slightly overlapping, thus completing a Mandorla.

In Romanesque times, Jesus is represented by these two circles as is the Sakayama Buddha
in Buddhist art. The Mandorla is now thought to be older
than both religions. Jesus and the virgin Mary are often portrayed in the framework of the Mandorla.
In the area where the two circles overlap sits the God-human, a place we too are called to be, where both aspects of reality coincide and
become one. This reminds us that we too partake in the nature of heaven and
earth; in Jesus becoming human, we can become divine.

One can
still see this symbol with Jesus and Mary framed in the western portals of
the great cathedrals of Europe (see Johnson, 1991). A more recent example can be seen on the
front wall of a Canberra Catholic parish church, St Jude's,
Holder, here in Canberra. This ceramic and glass tile icon (created in 2002 by local craftsmen in
Bungendore near Canberra) stands about 1.8m and shows the Transfigured Jesus framed by the Mandorla.
In our remaining in the place of the intersection of opposites, we too will be
transformed if we but bear the tension of remaining there.

Click on the picture to see the image in more detail.

Acknowledgements

Robert Johnson has written about the psychological significance of the
Mandorla in his book Owning
your own shadow. Brian Jensen has summarised Johnson's work. I have used these sources
and some of my own to produce the brief insights above. I recommend the
references below. Please also see the Mandorla
Resources Internationalsitefor some more interesting
information.